Mobile satellite communications, such as aeronautic/avionic satellite communications, require low-profile and light-weight antenna systems. The antenna systems used for such applications are usually electronically-steered phased arrays. Such systems desirably provide instantaneous reception of the full Ku-band (10.7-12.75 GHz), squint-free, and seamless beam steering, as well as polarization agility.
It is quite challenging to produce an antenna system having multi-gigahertz instantaneous bandwidth, compact form factor, light weight, and large beam-scanning range via beam formers that use only electronics-based technologies. As a consequence, phased-array antenna systems using photonic beamformers have been proposed. Compared to all-electrical-domain antenna systems, systems that incorporate photonic circuits can be more compact size and have lighter weight, among other benefits.